Predicting the Nominees (87th Academy Awards)

While it’s certainly fun to predict the winners, it’s even more challenging to try and predict the nominees and that’s what I’ll try to do right here, right now! Like I’ve said in my previous posts, 2014 had a great number of movies that are Oscar-worthy, but unfortunately not all of them can receiving nominations. No matter how the race shapes up on the announcement Thursday morning, there will be plenty of snubs. So without anything else, here are my predictions:

Best Picture

Boyhood

Birdman

The Imitation Game

The Theory of Everything

Selma

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Gone Girl

Foxcatcher

Whiplash

The top six films here seem to be set and there seems to be a consensus that nine films will be nominated, so that means the last three spots are up in the air. I’m going first with Gone Girl to receive a nomination because 1. we found out two years ago how much the Academy loves Ben Affleck, 2. its excellence from Fincher (director), Pike (actress), and Flynn (screenplay), and 3. it received a PGA nod.

With two films remaining (and plenty of films), my next prediction goes to Foxcatcher. The SAG gave nods to Carell and Ruffalo and the PGA also gave it a nomination. I think it has just enough momentum to snag a Best Picture nomination.

This means with only one spot left, my guess will be for Whiplash. This prediction is highly personal since I loved this movie so much, but I think it’ll squeak in over the likes of American Sniper, Nightcrawler, and Into the Woods. The only thing that might hurt its chances is if not enough voters saw it, but if voters did see it then I believe they’ll fall for its power the way I did.

—

Best Director

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)

Ava DuVernay (Selma)

Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

David Fincher (Gone Girl)

With such a great year for cinema with plenty of talented directors, there will be a handful who get snubbed this year. It’s strange that with my predictions, I have directors such as Clint Eastwood, Bennett Miller, Mike Leigh, Christopher Nolan, and Paul Thomas Anderson not receiving a nomination. But that’s how it goes in such a competitive category. My slight upset in my predictions goes to Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) being snubbed, even though it’s likely he’ll receive a nomination.

—

Best Actor

Michael Keaton (Birdman)

Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)

Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)

David Oyelowo (Selma)

There has to be some snubs in this category, so I think that Oyelowo and Carell will sneak in while Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler), Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel), and Bradley Cooper (American Sniper) gets snubbed.

—

Best Actress

Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)

Jennifer Aniston (Cake)

Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)

Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

I feel like these nominees are locks. Can Amy Adams or Emily Blunt spoil the party for one of these women? Maybe, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

—

Best Supporting Actor

J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)

Edward Norton (Birdman)

Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)

Christoph Waltz (Big Eyes)

Call me crazy, but the Academy loves Christoph Waltz so I think he’ll sneak in past Robert Duvall and Josh Brolin to snag another nomination.

—

Best Supporting Actress

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Emma Stone (Birdman)

Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)

Meryl Streep (Into the Woods)

Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)

This category is probably the weakest of all the major ones, but this was the best I could come up with. Maybe Laura Dern will get a nod for Wild, maybe Rene Russo for Nightcrawler, but those are my predictions.

—

Best Original Screenplay

Birdman

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Selma

Mr. Turner

I feel like Selma will have a good showing and therefore will sneak into this category, bumping out either Foxcatcher or Nightcrawler. I originally had Mr. Turner off my predictions, but realized that Mike Leigh has been nominated five times before for his screenplays, so it’s hard to ignore that fact.

—

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Imitation Game

The Theory of Everything

Gone Girl

Whiplash

Wild

I really feel like the Academy isn’t going to go for American Sniper the way that some people believe. Therefore, I’m snubbing it for this category, along with the disappointing Inherent Vice and Unbroken.

—

Well those are my predictions. Like I said before, this is a pretty wide open year for Oscar nominations. I think that films like Unbroken and Into the woods won’t have much of an impact. Even films like Interstellar and American Sniper could have had strong showings on another year, but not this year. And I feel like Gone Girl and Foxcatcher are two films that are right on the edge of being snubbed, but will end up doing quite well. Tune into Thursday for the full list of nominees.

5 Responses to Predicting the Nominees (87th Academy Awards)

That’s certainly a solid pick and personally I want to see it win Best Picture since it was my favorite film of 2014. We’ll have a much clearer look once all of the Guild Awards announce their winners.

I really enjoyed the movie Birdman as well. I’m not exactly sure who will win best animation for this year. I was surprised to see How To Train Your Dragon 2 win a golden globe. It’s a good movie with outstanding effects but i was hoping The Lego Movie would win it. I’m hoping song of the sea and the tale of princess kaguya make the top contender list but from the standings it looks like they wont. They are both fantastic films that need more attention